Visiting Greengotts!
by KeepSmiling1
Summary: Second in the Defies Expectations Series, Harry goes to Gringotts for the first time with his Daddy. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

Harry assumed that the adults around Potter Manor were oblivious. He made sure to talk about elvish things with the elves and proper human things around Mummy, Daddy, Uncle Moony, and Uncle Padfoot. How could the adults know just how special the youngest Potter was? They wouldn't of course...except Harry had to inherit his ability to sneak around "really, really quietly" from somewhere. Most of the hidey holes that Harry used had been found and utilized by generations of Potters before him.

Oh, Harry's family was well aware that their little prince had a special relationship with the elves. They were glad for it. Lily was glad because it meant her son would know how to care for himself. James saw how Harry occasionally snuck around and saw it as good practice for future pranks. He also was happy that his wife was happy. Sirius thought it was a little strange, but anything that made his godson happy was okay in his book. Remus? He was just glad at this sign that Harry had inherited the kindness and acceptance of his parents.

Nonetheless, all of the adults knew just how important secrets could be to young children, so they didn't let on that they knew some of the sides at dinner were made by Harry. They didn't comment on how Harry's magic had obviously left the realm of "accidental" and become meaningful wandless magic by the time he was learning to read. They certainly ignored Harry's occasional slip-ups when he would use an obviously not-English word in the middle of conversation. Because of all that they obviously did not know about, it was only natural to bet on how Harry's first time at Gringotts would go.

"What's to wonder about? Harry'll go in, get officially listed as the Potter heir, and get out. What else could happen?" Sirius asked.

"Oh I don't know, Padfoot. Maybe Harry'll do something really crazy like meet the royal family," Moony replied sarcastically.

"I don't think he'll go so far as to meet the royal goblins...but if I know my son (and I think I do), Harry'll end up making a better impression than we ever could, Pads. I bet five galleons Harry'll get a smile from my old Account Manager, Griphook." James replied excitedly.

"Ha! I bet six galleons nothing out of the ordinary happens. Harry is six after all." Sirius exclaimed happily.

Moony shrugged to Lily as if to say 'if you can't beat them…' and suggested, "How about we all put six in. Whoever wins can just put the pot in Harry's new trust vault. As for bragging rights...well we'll see who wins."

"Sounds great!" Suddenly, Lily's emerald eyes zoned in on her husband, like a tiger watching its prey. "James dear, what do you say we make this a little more interesting…. If Harry only gets a smile from Account Manager Griphook, I'll go to that Quidditch game you've been going on about with you. If, however, Harry manages to, shall we say, get in good with the goblins - perhaps even get lessons on their culture, you have to go to the Muggle cinema with me. Do we have a deal?"

"Let me get this straight. In one visit, you think our six-year-old son will manage to cultivate enough favor as to warrant lessons?" James crowed in laughter. "Lily, dearest, you are on!"


	2. Chapter 2

Harry couldn't be more excited. He was with his daddy going to Greengotts! There! He could see the ginormous white building now. Harry couldn't help but giggle a little when some people with big swords bowed to him when he entered Greengotts. They had big frowns on their faces and, wanting to remove the frowns, Harry bowed back. The night before, Harry had asked every elfie in the kitchen if they knew anything about the goblings. Finally, after a gazillion hours asking with no one knowing much of anything, Gellion was called. At least now Harry knew that goblings liked bowing a lot, and people intro...intro well people said hi to each other by saying who their whole family was (at least that's what it sounded like when Gellion showed how to do it!)

As Harry chased after his daddy, he tried to be on his bestest behavior ever. Maybe he would make a friend!

James couldn't decide whether to be proud or worried. They hadn't even gotten to the Account Manager's office, and Harry seemed to be making a good impression on the various goblins. Still, getting lessons seemed pretty farfetched. James decided that Harry's politeness could only help with getting the needed smile from Griphook and smirked. He couldn't wait to see the game against the Falmouth Falcons and the Montrose Magpies!

In Account Manager Griphook's office, Grimhook (his son) would have the opportunity to observe the official acceptance ceremony of Harry James Potter as the Potter Heir. Of course, the only reason he was given the chance to do this was because he was grounded for breaking Mother's Stelleg vase. As a result, he would sit in the corner invisible and watch his father do boring adult stuff. The acceptance ceremony of Harry James Potter looked like it would be the only remotely interesting thing for the whole day! At least then he could watch a kid his own age (even if he couldn't play being invisible and all)!

"Ah Mr. Potter! Come in, come in. I trust that this is your son? Hello little one," Griphook declared upon the arrival of his clients. The boy really did resemble his father.

"Hi Griphook. Yeah this is my son, Ha-" James found himself interrupted by Harry who proceeded to introduce himself as "Harry James Potter, son of my daddy named James Potter and my mummy named Lily Potter. I donno my grandparents names though, sorry!" This was all said in quite a rush as Harry did not want to forget anything the first time he talked to his daddy's Accountinent Man-ger.

Needless to say, Griphook (and to some degree James) were quite taken aback by this grand declaration. That being said, Griphook kept his face even as he told the boy that it was quite sufficient for him to know who is mummy and daddy were. Things derailed for a moment when Harry wanted to know if his grandparents had had names besides Grandmum, Grandpa, Nana, and Pop-pop. By this point, Grimhook was rather glad that he was grounded while this boy was in the room. He was funny!

As the proceedings got back on track, James filed the official paperwork for Harry's trust vault and participated in his portion of the ritual to declare the young boy as his heir. It was now time for a small measure of blood and magic to be given by Harry. This would make it so that the vault (vaults upon reaching his inheritance) would recognize him as a legitimate heir and so that none could illegitimately claim to be Harry James Potter.

Normally when working with children so young, the blood was obtained with a ritual knife while the child looked away and cried quite obnoxiously once it was over. Retrieving an example of the children's magic could be even worse. Parents were encouraged to bring a favorite toy of the child's in order to "convince" the magic to come out (often in the form of the spoiled brats using said magic to force the toy away from the parents). If that didn't work, the child had to be put to sleep for a long and drawn out ritual that would cause their magical core to react. If the parent refused the ritual, the child could not become an official heir sometimes until they started going to Hogwarts.

Luckily, in this case none of those scenarios occurred. Upon hearing that he needed to provide some blood, Harry grabbed the knife before either Griphook or James could react and produced a fairly shallow cut on his hand. After producing a small puddle in a bowl used just for that purpose, Harry asked if that was enough not a tear in sight! Griphook healed the small wound and then brought up the need for Harry to do magic. Again, Harry interrupted asking what Griphook needed him to do with the magic. Humoring the child, Griphook simply replied that any magic would do. Harry quickly decided that the large office could do with some straightening out. Books in a bookshelf found themselves standing tall, no dust in sight. A depiction of a famous goblin battle shined like it was newly painted. Smiling happily to himself, Harry asked if that was all. The gobsmacked goblin simply nodded, and Harry went off by himself to play with some of his toys. Before the adults could get into a boring financial discussion though, Harry piped up "Hey Daddy? Can I play with the little boy over there?"

Five minutes later, Grimhook was no longer invisible (to everyone but Harry apparently) and was happily playing with Harry. With the boys finally occupied, James turned to his account manager. It was kind of hard not to laugh at the goblin's face. It was obvious that he hadn't come across a boy like Harry very often. Before they went into the finances of the Potter vaults, James decided to tell Griphook of Harry's rather unusual upbringing.

Two hours later, James was sure that Griphook was taking revenge on him for not giving advanced warning about Harry. Surely, his signature was not needed for all of this! They must have gone through fifty scrolls that simply "needed" his signature! Finally, he turned around to tell Harry it was time to go and that he should tell Griphook and Grimhook good bye. Instead of seeing the two boys happily playing, the office was distinctly lacking any children at all. Just then the shrill sound of an alarm rang out, and James faintly heard Griphook explain that whatever happened caused the security system to fall into place. They were locked inside the office until the emergency is over. James could only hope that Harry was safe.


	3. Chapter 3

An eternity later, the alarm silenced. Before either James or Griphook could open the door and begin their search, a very official-looking goblin entered and curtly stated that Mr. James Potter and Griphook were to follow him. There had been an incident involving their sons.

Finally, they got to some rather large, opulent doors. Upon entering, James' eyes honed in on Harry, seemingly oblivious to the terror he caused his daddy. Indeed, he was blissfully playing away with Grimhook and another young goblin as if nothing had happened. When Harry caught sight of him though, he was instantly on his feet running to give a grand hug. His mouth was running a mile a minute, talking about going on a grand adventure and making a new friend and even learning that the gobling word for friend was _Garnarsh_.

Just as Harry was winding to a close, James had begun to take in the opulent room that they were in. Much of it seemed to be covered in gold with the walls simply covered in brilliant tapestries depicting battle. It was then that James noted the other (non-child) goblins in the room. There were four guards in the room's corners carrying daggers. There appeared to be one goblin put in charge of caring for the children. Then James saw the only goblin who was not standing (or on the ground in the case of the one with the children). This goblin was wearing armor, and James doubted that the sword by his chair was just for show. He was obviously a warrior. Said goblin was watching James' interaction with Harry intently with a smile on his face.

James noted that everyone seemed to be waiting for him. After telling Harry to go play (and to most definitely not leave the room without telling him first), James went to Griphook's side. Seeing him bow, James quickly mimicked his account manager. Something told him that he did not want to get on the bad side of the warrior, and he could only pray that Harry had not done something to cause offence.

"I hope my son has not caused any trouble. He left the room while Account Manager Griphook and I were discussing finances. If he did anything wrong or broke anything, I'll be happy to pay for it," James hoped that that would be enough to get them out of there. He was quite shocked at the response. Apparently he had said something rather funny seeing as the scary warrior outright laughed and even the guards snorted.

"Mr. Potter, though your son may have done wrong, he has done nothing for which My Nation can feel anything but gratitude. My name is Ragnok, and just as Griphook and your son chose today to go wandering, so too did my youngest, Ranook. Ranook has a love of dragons and unfortunately chose to go wandering near one our dragons alone. From what I have heard after the fact, your children came across his path, and young Mr. Potter managed to save him from being toasted before the proper dragon-handlers could arrive to subdue the dragon and get the boys to safety."

"Understand, in our culture such an act necessitates the giving of a boon, especially when a prince is involved." here Ragnok paused as James slowly realized just who his son had saved and who he was standing in front of, "When the boys were brought here, I explained such to your son and asked what he would require. Had he asked for a toy or a sum of money, I would have given it without your input. Instead, your son declared that he wanted to, and I quote, 'learn more gobling words, how to fight, and other cool stuff like that with Grimhook and Ranook?' Given the nature of the request, I felt it best to forewarn you. On our side, I am perfectly willing to have the two boys join mine in lessons, giving your son extra classes in our etiquette and language for as long as it interests him. Should you not be willing however, you will have to convince your son to choose something else. If the second choice is monetary in nature, know that protections will be put in place so that only your son can utilize them."

Ragnok wanted to make perfectly clear that Harry Potter's boon would not be given just so his parents could reap the benefits. That being said, he would not be surprised if the Potters objected to such lessons for their son and knew that he had to give the boy's father the chance to change his son's mind. James' reaction was rather different from what he expected.

"Haha! When Lily made that bet, somehow I doubt that she pictured the lessons coming from this! Ragnok, I thank you for giving my son this chance. I would be quite happy to let him learn alongside your son. You might want to be careful letting the classes last as long as Harry wants them though. I get the feeling that his interest in your culture won't be just a whim. Oh and don't be surprised if Harry considers cooking to fall under 'other cool stuff'. He already spends half his time cooking with our house-elves and seems to be fluent in their tongue."

After sharing a meal in Harry's honor (during which Harry excitedly noted various dishes that he wanted to learn how to make), James and Harry finally returned home. Harry immediately ran off to tell his 'elvies' all about his first trip to 'Greengotts' while James grinned in anticipation of everyone's reactions to what happened. Though Lily had won their personal bet, he looked forward to seeing her face.


	4. Chapter 4

"So James, how'd the visit go? You boys were gone longer than we expected," Lily started things off.

"Well it's not my fault that Harry is so likeable, Lils. After business was finished, we were invited to dine with some of his new friends and their dads."

"What? What could Harry have done to warrant making friends or having lunch with goblins? I thought for sure it would be a simple, ordinary visit. In, out." Sirius mock-complained since it seemed that he obviously lost the bet.

"Haha Pads, you couldn't have been more wrong! In fact, you and me are the only ones who lost the bet though for me it's only a technicality. By the time we left, I must have seen a dozen goblins smile at Harry (seemingly everyone but Griphook), we had met the Goblin king and his children, and Harry had managed to obtain lessons alongside the king's youngest!"

James couldn't speak for a full minute afterwards due to the hilarious expressions on everyone's faces. After the entire story was told, however, Remus and Sirius were laughing while Lily gave James a dressing down for losing their son.


	5. Chapter 5

Over the years, Harry continued to take lessons alongside Ranook and Grimhook. He learned everything from language and etiquette to elementary lessons on wards and how to fight (both with magic and weaponry). Each summer, the three would be taught in a time-delay chamber allowing much more to be taught than a mere five-years' worth of lessons would suggest. Under the careful eye and tutelage of a master craftsmith, he created his first sword shortly after he turned nine.

Unfortunately, Harry never seemed to lose the ability to find trouble or the willingness to get others out of it. Interestingly, Harry's boons rarely required much of the Goblin Nation. One time, he asked that a second vault be opened filled with half of the money from his trust vault. This money, he used to practice making sound investments which he actually showed great promise towards. Another time, Ragnok made the mistake of asking Harry what boon he wanted right after sword practice. Harry insisted that all he wanted was a muscle balm. When asked the next day what boon he really wanted, he stated that he was already given it.

Two months before Harry was to leave for Hogwarts, Ragnok once again found himself needing to discuss boons with Harry. The boon this time made him laugh at the unlikeliness of it.

"Should I find friends who are interested, may I have permission to teach them some of what I have learned about this great culture?"

By now knowing that arguing the point would be futile, Ragnok simply gave his permission while internally he planned to augment Harry's special vault somewhat. After all, he gave Harry permission to do something that would never occur! Seriously, wizards interested in goblin culture? The very thought was preposterous!


End file.
